What Does a Psychedelic Trip Feel Like? Stages, Effects & Expectations
By Goncalo V.
What does a psychedelic trip feel like? In almost 10 years of educating people about the science of psychedelic substances, this is one of the most-asked questions from our followers and the curious general public dipping their toes into psychedelics.
While there are various people reporting their experiences online in spaces such as Bluelight or Erowid, and even certain interviews with celebrities or YouTubers mentioning their experiences with Ayahuasca, DMT, Psilocybin-containing mushrooms, or 5-MeO-DMT, we would like you to clear your mind of what they describe for one simple reason. There is no such thing as a “generalized trip”.
Previously, I mentioned how “What does a psychedelic trip feel like” is one of the most asked things by our followers, but now it’s time to go into the second most asked question: “I took X substance, and I didn’t feel anything like this person or my friend described. Is this normal?” And often, my answer surprises them. Typically, I just ask them, “Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy the experience? Did you feel good? Were you able to learn something from it?” The answers vary from negative to positive and unclear, but those are just part of a true psychedelic experience, facing the unknown.
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What a psychedelic feels like?
To first understand what a psychedelic experience might feel like, we must start with the main component of the trip, the psychedelic. When we speak about psychedelic compounds, people generally gravitate towards the cartoon ideology depicting flying dragons or alien entities. Sometimes these types of experiences can happen, but they cannot happen with every psychoactive compound and certainly not with every dosage.
Types (Classes) of psychoactive compounds:
–Cannabinoids
–Depressants
–Dissociatives
–Empathogens
–Stimulants
–Opioids
–Psychedelics
When we divide the classes of psychoactive compounds, we can already recognize some of the classes that would cause the typical “hallucinations” we all know or have heard about. Those would typically be psychedelics and dissociatives (however, things can become much more complicated when we delve into niche compounds such as DiPT, which causes pretty much no visual experiences but does cause auditory hallucinations). This doesn’t mean that someone cannot have hallucinations with compounds from the Cannabinoid class (such as THC), or on an Empathogen such as MDA, based on dosage, quality of the product, and the user’s biological sensitivity. (You can read more about the various types of psychoactive compounds here)
Deconstruction of dosing:
Microdosing – A dose within the microgram scale, typically 1/10th to 1/20th of the standard dosage.
Threshold- A minimum amount that triggers a detectable biological response or adverse effect.
Light- A smaller, sub-therapeutic dose, typically used to assess tolerance, minimize side effects, or achieve subtle effects without reaching the standard experience.
Common- A “normal” dose to produce full hallucinogenic and mind-altering effects without detaching the user from reality.
Strong (Heroic dose) – An amount that intentionally induces profound change in perception, can cause dissolution of the ego, and intense mystical experiences.
A dosing fallacy:
While there are thousands of guides online when you search “Dose of X” or friends who say “Just wing it dude,” this is one of the biggest mistakes we see in the psychedelic community, and you should always take it with a pinch of salt. Just like there is no generalized trip, unfortunately, there is no generalized dosage. When we search these results, the data given to us is compiled by summarizing information from historical texts, published papers, and user-submitted experiences, meaning it’s an idea of ranges people have experienced with these compounds, not data made specifically for you. Our best advice is to always gradually up your dose until you find your right dosage.
Learn about the man who synthesized and experimented with over 200 psychedelics
What you might feel during a psychedelic trip:
– Visual Hallucinations: Colors can appear more vibrant, and objects may appear to be moving (breathe, ripple, swirl). You may also see geometric patterns or fractals when your eyes are closed. Or in some cases, strong visuals such as non-existing objects or figures, mystical entities, people you know, etc.
– Distorted Dimensions: Your perception of distance, directions, and time can change, in the sense of time feeling slow, stopping, or moving too fast.
– Intense moods: You might cycle through emotions faster than usual, feeling deep joy, empathy, connection, sadness, fear, and paranoia.
– Ego dissolution: Sometimes, you can feel disconnected between your mind and body, almost as if you became separate from yourself and became one with the universe.
– Spiritual awakening: Depending on what type of person you are and your beliefs, you may end up having mystical or highly spiritual experiences that can provide you with deeply personal insights or realizations.
– Change in ideology: Typically, it’s quite normal for people who go through their first trip to have a shake-down of their ideology, whether it’s their beliefs or just their opinions about these compounds. There is typically an everlasting change that follows.
– Confusion: On the other side of the coin, depending on your experience, there is also the chance that you can come out confused. One good analogy I like to use is that you can have an experience that helps you heal trauma, but you can end up sharing a bowl of Triforce-shaped cereal with Falkor from The NeverEnding Story while discussing ancient aliens. In one, you get answers. In the other, you get confusion and questions.
Expect the unexpected
When entering the psychedelic space and researching what to expect for your psychedelic trip, I know this sounds cliché, but the best truly is to expect the unexpected. Just like the example given before, some trips can have beautiful meanings, while others can be scary or straight-up the most random thing you’ll ever witness. Of course, when people describe their experiences, they will often euphemize their experience and recall the most pleasing ones, but trust me when I say this: everyone has had one trip that made them ask, “What did I witness?” the reasoning why this happens is because, these experiences are often based on things we throw into our subconsciousness, picture it as the following, when you go to sleep after a long day, you often end up dreaming, now most often we can’t control our dreams, they can be based on something that has happened during our day, something that we’ve been thinking about quite constantly, something that we are scared of, or the most miscellaneous information that we don’t find useful, those dreams that wake us up questioning “What was that?” these compounds work in a very similar way. That being said, expect the unexpected, and stay safe!
